In some parts of Indonesia, regional regulations force eateries to close during the day throughout Ramadan, laws designed to respect those who fast during the day in the Muslim majority country. Restaurants that remain open in violation of these regulations are sometimes raided by the police, and every year it seems there is at least one raid that makes national headlines, and the sambal-lsy actions of this warung (food stall) owner ensures this will become one of them.
Yesterday, 15 Satpol PP (Public Order Agency) officers from the province of Riau went to raid a small warung in Kampar Regency for being open during the day. Your average raid usually ends with the owner meekly accepting that they’re violated regulations, their food being confiscated and their business being forced shut.
But this particular warung owner was anything but chili when the Satpol PP came.
“He knew his food items were being taken away, so the warung owner grabbed some sambal (chili sauce) and threw it at our officers. One of our officers got sambal in his eyes, while two others got sambal on their clothes,” said Kampar Satpol PP head Muhammad Jamil, as quoted by Detik.
Not only that, the owner, identified as 40-year-old Herman Susilo, went berserk and thrashed his own warung, the results of which can be seen in this picture:
It’s not the first time the local Satpol PP have had run-ins with this particular warung owner.
“[He] has always been stubborn. It’s not just now that we warned him, but we’ve done it in previous years as well. But he hasn’t changed,” Muhammad Jamil said.
The three officers splashed by his enraged sambal strike reported Herman to the local police, though there have been no reports of his arrest yet.
Last year, Satpol PP officers raided a warung in the city of Serang, Banten. The raid was filmed by the media, and images of the warung owner, an old lady, crying while the officers confiscated her food became the talk of the nation then. The public donated a large amount of money for the lady, and even President Joko Widodo personally donated Rp 10 million to her.
Which begs the question – why do regulations prohibiting eateries to be open during the day in Ramadan still exist?
